Sharing wisdom that comes from parenting our parents
One of the most jarring moments in dementia caregiving is not just the anger. It is the language. A parent who never swore suddenly uses profanity. A spouse who was always gentle blurts out crude or shocking words. The once-reserved loved one yells something that feels completely out of character. If this has happened to …
Continue reading "When Anger and Language Come with Dementia"
Role reversals, when younger family member(s) assume parental duties over a parent, are just part of the caregiving landscape. Most of us do not like them. We probably did not want them in the first place. Yet here we all are. Meltdown on Aisle 3 Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com Who knew that wanting …
Mom is mad at me again. I did not give her the response she wanted from me and she got angry. Angry enough to hang up on me, only to call again the next day. Dementia strips away a lot of the filters we all use to be civil in society. It has been said …
Continue reading "The Low-Hanging Fruit of the Emotional Response"
In one of Life’s abundant ironies, my father never knew the person I became because of him. Growing up, Dad tried to direct my development along paths he thought best, but he found a particularly frustrating subject in me. So many learning lessons did not take. At least, at first. One of those lessons was …
Dad's Back 